Chapter Five Hundred and Seven - Crimes Against Our Sanity

Chapter Five Hundred and Seven - Crimes Against Our Sanity

Chapter Five Hundred and Seven - Crimes Against Our Sanity

I woke up to a small surprise.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Jumping skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!

Rank D is a free rank!

Neat! I'd kinda sorta forgotten about that skill, but... well, it was going to level up all on its own. Was it why I woke up feeling so refreshed? Or was that because I ate well, exercised a lot, and got to sleep snuggled up between two friends on Miss Laine's floor?

In any case, I was happy to be heading out, but my happiness was nowhere near Miss Laine's. She was practically buzzing around her little kitchen as she prepared what she called her 'get out of my house' porridge.

It tasted pretty good for something meant to get us out the door, but I supposed that it also worked because only an hour or two after the sun rose, we were ready to go. Sir Aberrforth packed his tent dejectedly, but he had a few pals to help him, so it wasn't all that bad.

I wanted to stick around and help, but Amaryllis was insistent that we head out sooner rather than later. Technically, our mission was done here, and the sooner we arrived back in Port Royal, the sooner we'd get paid.

She doubted that Sir Aberrforth would get lost between here and the city, and I kinda doubted the same. His team of grenoil explorers didn't seem overly happy with him at the moment. Poor Aberrforth.

In any case, we left a bit of money with Miss Laine to thank her for the meal and the overnight stay, as well as some rations that we could spare. She was thankful for the small set of emergency potions that Amaryllis gave to her. I supposed that even a self-proclaimed witch had room for that kind of thing.

And then we were off.

"So..." I said once we were a good twenty minutes away from Miss Laine's place and basically retracing our steps from the way over. "I should probably tell you what happened in the mine."

"You have been quiet about that," Amaryllis said.

"Ah, did something bad happen before you met us?" Awen asked.

I chewed on my lower lip, then nodded. "Bad and not so bad? I met Miss Laine's monster. He was just an old, old Riftwalker that had, uh, maybe lost a few marbles? Once he arrived on Dirt, he went ... mean. Eventually, that caught up with him and he got locked up tight in the mine. Actually, his actions from way back then reminded me a bit of Rainnewt, in some ways, though I think he's much better now."

"Much... Broccoli, this is the opposite of reassuring," Amaryllis said. She almost looked ready to turn around.

"Rainnewt is that dastardly villain that you have been fighting for some time now, is he not?" Desiree asked.

"Uh, okay, starting from the start," I said. "Yes, Rainnewt is the baddy we've been fighting for a while. And the man down in the mines wasn't quite like that. He got, uh, kinda enraptured by a weird twisty dungeon core that let him see alternate pasts and which encouraged him to become obsessed with becoming stronger? And that led him to do a lot of really bad things until he was trapped in the mines by... I guess Miss Laine's ancestors. But it has been a very long time, so he's better now?"

Amaryllis groaned into her talons. "Broccoli," she said.

The moment we arrived in Port Royal proper, we had a choice to make. Back to the Beaver Cleaver, or the Exploration Guild, or, as a third option, we could head out to say hi to Booksie. "I think I'd like to visit Booksie first, and maybe get something to eat," I said.

Amaryllis huffed. "And skip out on reporting our successful mission?"

"Yes?" I tried. "Unless we split up again? A few of us check on Booksie and some of us go to the Guild to make sure to hand in the mission? Then we meet up again for lunch at the Beaver?"

Amaryllis considered it, then nodded. "Fine. Who wants to come with me to report?"

There was a long, long beat of awkward silence.

"Ah... okay, I guess I'll come," Awen said.

Amaryllis had her talons on her hips by then. "I see how it is. Just a bit of concern over our professionalism and suddenly no one cares."

"It is kind of boring," Calamity said.

I shook my head. I did feel a little bad for Amaryllis. "Let's all go to the guild, then," I said. "It shouldn't take long, right?"

"It shouldn't," Amaryllis said. "We report our success, that Aberrforth is returning, then fill out a few forms. I can take them with us and fill them out tonight, to save us all some time now."

"That sounds great," I said with a happy nod.

One of the city's guards ran over to us, and for a moment I felt a little nervous. There couldn't be good reasons for an on-duty guardsman to single someone out, could there? "Excuse me, are you Broccoli Bunch?"

"Uh, yes?" I said. I wanted to slip behind my friends so that I wouldn't have to lie, but it was a little too late for that.

He smiled and gestured back into the city. "Miss, ah, Booksie was looking for you."

"And she has the guard looking on her behalf?" Amaryllis asked.

He shrugged. "She's kind of running the guard by the nose. Well, her sylph friend is, in any case. The city really wants to please her right now, and we mostly don't mind. The big wedding sounds like the biggest party Port Royal will throw this century!"

I glanced at my friends. That would require a little change of plans, then. Also, I was starting to suspect that things might have blown themselves out of proportion while we were away.

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